Written answers

Wednesday, 17 June 2015

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Fish Farming

Photo of Clare DalyClare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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124. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 223 of 3 April 2014, the reason he replied regarding the inspection of licensed aquaculture sites that he was satisfied that the current inspection regime is satisfactory, when at the same time he provided the European Commission with a programme of measures intended to avoid daily fines for non-compliance with the European Court of Justice case C-418/04, informing the Commission that a dedicated monitoring and compliance unit has been established within his Department to ensure enhanced monitoring and regulatory standards, practices and procedures, and that he had substantially enhanced the existing regulatory procedures and supplements for all other inspections of sites. [24147/15]

Photo of Clare DalyClare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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125. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will outline the very substantial enhancement of the existing regulatory procedure which supplements all other inspections of sites, specifying how it supplements the inspection checklist for marine fish farms which was first published in 2000 and which is currently the sole record of fish farm inspections made available to members of the public. [24148/15]

Photo of Clare DalyClare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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126. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide the structure, staffing, and resources allocated to the marine fish farms monitoring and compliance unit; the date it was established; the number of meetings it has held; and any work it has undertaken. [24149/15]

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 124 to 126, inclusive, together.

As the Deputy has been previously advised, I am satisfied that the current inspection regime operated by my Department is satisfactory. The establishment of the Monitoring and Compliance Unit referred to by the Deputy has added a further enhancement to the monitoring and regulatory standards, practices and procedures already in place. A key element of the work carried out by the Monitoring and Compliance Unit is the undertaking of Integrated Systems Inspections of selected aquaculture licensed operations to further ensure that all the terms & conditions of the licence(s) are fully adhered to by the operator. This procedure is over and above other inspections of sites carried out in the normal way by my Department and relevant agencies.

The Monitoring & Compliance Unit forms part of the Aquaculture & Foreshore Management Division of my Department and was established following the transfer of certain Foreshore functions to the Department of Environment, Community & Local Government in 2010.

The Unit has a current staffing allocation of 1 Higher Executive Officer, 1 Executive Officer and 1 Clerical Officer. Specialised technical and scientific inputs to the work of the Unit are sourced as necessary from my Department’s Engineering Division and relevant agencies.

Photo of Clare DalyClare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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127. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will confirm that the majority of site inspections undertaken by his Department do not check the condition of the shackles, an important structural component of fish farm installations, when an inspection of these shackles is required on his Department’s Checklist for Marine Fish Farms; and the measures he plans to take to insure that Inspection Checklistd for Marine Fish Farms are properly completed. [24150/15]

Photo of Clare DalyClare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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128. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will confirm that there is no requirement to ensure operators of marine fish farms undertake appropriate and regular inspections of every item of the mooring system by divers, cleaned down where necessary to allow such inspections, with its conditions recorded and submitted to his Department, as recommended to him by his Department's Engineering Division; and if he is satisfied that no such requirement is needed, in view of the failure of such structural components at Inver Bay in 2010, Clew Bay in 2010, and Bantry Bay in 2014 with the total loss of more than 300,000 salmon. [24151/15]

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 127 and 128 together.

My Department's Inspection Checklist for Marine Finfish Farms includes a section on the condition of the shackles and where appropriate and in so far as it is possible to do so, having regard to visibility constraints pertaining at the time, this section is filled in by the inspector.

I would also point out that my Department is currently finalising a Protocol for the Structural Design of Marine Finfish Farms that will specifically address the structural design of the components of finfish farms including the shackles and other important elements of the farm structure. I can also confirm that the Inspection Checklist for Marine Finfish Farms is currently being updated by my Department.

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